Medical Collection from 05/2012. Never received bill (moved out of college dorm). What to do??

[CAaviator]

Hey everyone,

I'm new to this forum and just recently found out that I have an account in collection on my Equifax report due to un unpaid medical bill from 05/2012.

This is what happened.

May 2012 I had a bad cold and went to the emergency at Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, NY. I was under Cornell's school insurance program (SHIP) and filled out my school address, as well as my Canadian address. I did not pay for anything on the day, and don't remember if they told me I would be billed (or whether insurance covers everything).

I never received a bill (possibly due to moving out of the school dorm a month after I visited the hospital), but received a mail sent to my Canadian address in 01/2013 for $30. I paid off the $30 to the "Medical Center" on 1/30/2013, and thought that would be the end of it.

Today, I found out about the collection and called the hospital. The lady on the phone told me that my bill was still not paid, and that I was billed for the emergency care and physicians (not the facility). She said I most likely paid off the bill to the hospital facility, but never paid off (possibly?) another bill that was for the physicians/emergency unit, which ended up in collection. Currently the collection is under UCB Collection and have been there since 09/2012. The reporting date for the collection is 01/2013. 

I am lost and have no idea what I should do at this point. Is there a way for me to still remove the collection record from the report? Should I pay the $30 that I supposedly "didn't pay"? Or should I dispute the transaction with Equifax?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Confused and panicing college student.

[DaBears]

Hi CAaviator and welcome to the forums!!! Do you have a bank statement showing it was paid? If you do you can send that part of it to the CRA that is reporting the account along with a copy of the credit report showing the Collection.

[CAaviator]

Hey DaBear!

Thanks for the reply. I do have my bank statement that shows my $30 payment in January.

However, the bill I received was paid to "Cayuga Medical Center" and what went into collection was "Cayuga Emergency Physicians LLP". 

I only recall receiving one bill (medical center).

[J_G]

I have the same thing going on. But I have several medical bills. The good thing is that most of the time when you pay it they remove it from your CR! And they are really good about that also medical bills don't hurt your score as much. Good luck

[CAaviator]

Update,

I called my insurance company, and appearently I was not supposed to be charged "twice" by both the hospital and the physicians, since there should've been only 1 co-pay.

I'm calling the hospital to notify them of this, and ask them to contact the collection agency and request removal of the collection on my credit report.

Would the original lender have the power to delete collections on my credit report AFTER it has been sold/transferred to UCB Collections?

To my understanding, collections are collections, so they hurt just as much as any other type of collection (medical or not). Yes?

[atarvuzdar]

A couple of things:

1. The collection agency is probably acting on behalf of the Physicians and did not purchase the debt. If that's the case, then paying the bill and requesting that the Physicians remove the collection is an option (no guarantees that they'll comply--however, as has been stated, it's generally easier to get medical collections removed after payment than other types of collections).

2. I'm not aware of anything that says medical collections are treated any differently in terms of impact on your score, as opposed to other types of collections.

3. I work for a health insurance company. Depending on your insurance plan, you can be billed by the actual physician and the facility themselves for your ER visit. The $30 charge may actually be legitimate. Not all front-line representatives know the most accurate information. I would suggest calling your insurance carrier again to verify that information, and ask for copies of your "Explanations of Benefits" for both the facility charge and the doctor charge. Further, if they verify that you should not have been charged $30 twice then you can request that they contact the provider (ie. hospital) and advise the hospital that they shouldn't be billing you in this manner. Any health insurance company worth their salt will go to bat for you, especially if you tell them that the issue is affecting your credit.

4. Good luck!

[shols44]

+1 to above. I think you have a good chance of getting this to go away. Don't pay the collection agency. A paid collection is just as bad as an open collection for scoring purposes.

1. Call the hospital's business office and find of if there is actually an upaid bill. If so, explain, ask if they will re-call the debt from the CA.

2. Ask for a faxed copy of your EOB from the insurance company. This will let you know if there was actually a bill due for the services rendered or not. Most likely there was a physician fee that slipped by and got sent to collections. 

3. If there is bill, pay the $30 to the OC and ask for a goodwill deletion since this was all a mailing/address/billing error. 

Good luck. 

[CAaviator]

Update 7/16:

- So I called the insurance company and the hospital. They verified that the bill was indeed legitimate. One bill was a copay and the other one was for a lab, which is why there were 2 bills at $30 each. The hospital billing department transferred me to UCB Collections, and after speaking with various representatives, I eventually spoke with a supervisor.

The whole conversation involved him telling me to pay and my response being "without owning nor denying that the debt was mine. I have no idea how this bill got there. All I want is it to go away, and since the amount is so small, I'm willing to pay this alleged bill so long as you would delete it from my account. The supervisor went on and on about how that's not an option, and then magically said after looking at my file he would delete it, AFTER I PAY THE COLLECTION BILL. I then asked him to provide a letter in writing indicating our agreement, and he refused to do so, pretty much saying "this is your debt. If we delete, it's based on our courtesy. It's up to you to pay it or not, but we will not send any letters." I thanked him for his time and didn't go further with the payment.

What is going on? What should I/can I do at this point? Could I call the hospital and offer to pay if they would delete? I'm back to square one. 

[shols44]

Go ahead and pay. Call back and speak to that same person. Unfortunately, in this case, they are doing you a courtesy. If the hospital is not willing to recall the debt, you do have to take a leap of faith.

I did the exact thing in thesame situation, I basically said "Dude are you sure you won't screw me" response "I won't, I will definitely submit a request to delete". He adamantly refused to provide written doc for the PFD, something about blackmail blah blah. 15 minutes after I paid, he faxed a copy of the delete letter sent to all 3 CRAs. 

I'm not saying this will work out thesame, but the mere fact they are agreeing to do it would have been enough for me considering the circumstances. Now if after paying and they do screw you, there is the HIPAA route which only works if you pay. 

Good luck.

[CAaviator]

I should pay?... but so many people online and saying "never pay unless they can provide the agreement in writing. Once you pay you've lost any leverage."